... know through our reason, while St Augustine had attempted to bridge the rational philosophy of Aristotle with Christianity in order to prove that the two were compatible. Descartes, like others before him, took this theory to its logical conclusion and ended up doubting everything, stating When I consider this carefully, I find not a single property which separates the waking state from the dream. But Descartes was determined not to stop there, concluding, as you have seen, I think therefore I am. He then attempted to take the theory further, aiming to extend rationalism to a philosophical system able to answer all of the questions at the heart of philosophy. For instance, by taking from I think therefore I am that existence is something that can be possessed, that to lack it would be to lack perfection, and therefore that a perfect being (or God) must contain existence in the ...

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